Judge Dee at Work

by Robert Van Gulik Book 1 in the Judge Dee Mysteries series.

First published 1967

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4.5(501)

This collection contains eight cases from different stages of Judge Dee’s career between 663 and 674. The stories take him from his first district at Peng-lai through Han-yuan, Poo-yang and Lan-fang, allowing the collection to connect incidents that occur between the longer novels.

The cases range from suspected military treason and official fraud to the murder of a poet and crimes concealed within ordinary households. Together they show Dee adapting the same principles of evidence, interrogation and administrative responsibility to provinces with different customs and political pressures.